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Edmonton residents weigh in, many pan new LRT line nameshttp://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2013/01/31/edmonton-residents-weigh-in-many-pan-new-lrt-line-names/
http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2013/01/31/edmonton-residents-weigh-in-many-pan-new-lrt-line-names/#commentsFri, 01 Feb 2013 00:37:03 +0000http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/?p=148198Would you like to take the Metro line? Or would it make more sense to take the Orange line? Or should I just tell you to take the line to NAIT (eventually St. Albert)?

The city released its picks for …

]]>Would you like to take the Metro line? Or would it make more sense to take the Orange line? Or should I just tell you to take the line to NAIT (eventually St. Albert)?

The city released its picks for five current and future LRT lines. Here’s how a selection of Edmonton residents on Twitter reacted. (If this Storify won’t load for you, read it here.)

[View the story on Storify]]]>http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2013/01/31/edmonton-residents-weigh-in-many-pan-new-lrt-line-names/feed/0ejstolte‘Blatchford’ carries the day — new name picked for city centre airport landshttp://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2012/09/28/blatchford-carries-the-day-new-name-picked-for-city-centre-airport-lands/
http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2012/09/28/blatchford-carries-the-day-new-name-picked-for-city-centre-airport-lands/#commentsSat, 29 Sep 2012 03:49:45 +0000http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/?p=132945Remember Sol’Town? That name got the boot. So did Avia Park.

Today a source let the secret leak …. the new name for the residential neighbourhood replacing the city centre airport will be similar to its old name.

The neighbourhood …

]]>Remember Sol’Town? That name got the boot. So did Avia Park.

Today a source let the secret leak …. the new name for the residential neighbourhood replacing the city centre airport will be similar to its old name.

Kenneth Blatchford

The neighbourhood will be called Blatchford.

The naming committee approved it Sept. 25, based on a recommendation by city staff.

Back in June, the city hired a marketing company to test out several names for the new residential development. In an online survey, they asked people to pick between Avia Park, The Landing, Wingfield, Central Park, Crossroads and Sol’Town.

But when the news came out, I heard from a lot of people ticked off that Blatchford Fields wasn’t included in that list.

“I see nothing of the site’s history in these names. I’m horrified,” said Karon Kosof, head of the nearby Kingsway Business Association, said at the time.

Jamie Post, a citizen member of Edmonton’s Naming Committee, thought the names sounded like a “suburban marketing project,” and Richard Leask, an Elmwood resident considering buying a home there, called them “lame.”

Blatchford Fields was the original name, named for Kenny Blatchford, a former mayor who founded the airport. When we offered Blatchford Fields as a seventh option on the blog, it got 56% (out of 363 votes). Here’s the article I wrote at the time.

I’m not sure what happened to the city survey. I’d sure be curious to read what responses they got. Anyway, city staff wouldn’t talk about it when I asked Sept. 19. I think they might be planning a big announcement, but I’m not sure when.

Sande said they picked Avia Park as a riff off aviation and because it sounds avant-garde. Sol’Town is a reference to solar and to being near the soul of the city. Central Park was picked because there will be a large, central park space and because New York’s Central Park gives it instant name recognition.

Crossroads refers to the meeting place between Kingsway and Princess Elizabeth Avenue, and because it sounds catchy, as in, “‘We’ve met at the Crossroads.’ It’s got excellent marketing potential.”

Wingfield and The Landing are again references to the site as a former airport. The survey at communityvote.ca is open until June 29.

“We’re looking for names people gravitate toward,” Sande said.

Blatchford Field was discussed, but the team felt it might not resonate with younger people. Also, the team wanted something forward looking, perhaps with a reference to the environmental sustainability of the place, Sands said. “Is the name something that should be looking back, or forward to what this place will become?”

Also, city communications staff called at 5:30 last night to reiterate that this is an opinion poll. It’s a first step to see how people react to different names.

Well, I think this coverage certainly gave them that. As Jim Malner from Consumer Strategies Group said while declining my request for an interview Wednesday, “certainly has allowed the survey to receive an incredible amount of feedback.”

Poor Kenny Blatchford. It looks like he did not make the short list for the new neighbourhood name at the city centre airport.

Blatchford Field was the original name for the airport lands, named after a former Edmonton mayor and strong supporter of Edmonton’s aviation industry. That’s the name I heard most commonly tossed about in airport name discussions. Group2 Architecture and the city’s naming committee also argued for the Blatchford Field, I’ve been told. But the city’s marketing consultants put out a survey recently with six options, and Blatchford Field is not one of them.

I’ve got a call in to Consumer Strategies Group to find out where these names came from and why they picked them.

I also talked with Craig Fitch this morning, the city’s land development co-ordinator, who says the Blatchford Field could still be considered. “I guess at this point we haven’t ruled anything out. These were just some names that we wanted to test,” he said.

The final decision goes to the group of citizens appointed to the city’s Naming Committee anyway. They’re going to be looking for something that relates to Edmonton, something that ties to our history or expresses what we’re all about.

Cory Sousa, their city staff co-ordinator, took a look at the names when I sent them to him this morning.

“Central Park? With that name being a common name for the big park in New York, I’m not sure how the naming committee would respond to that,” he said. “They would probably look more favourably to Avia Park or The Landing.

“I’m not sure about Sol’Town. I don’t know where that comes from.”

But of course, nothing has been formally proposed to them yet.

So what do you think? I’m throwing Blatchford Field back on the list for my survey, as well as none of the above. I’ll update the post when I get more information from the consultant.

]]>http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2012/06/20/central-park-or-crossroads-consultant-proposes-names-for-city-centre-airport/feed/1Image from the survey to pick a municipal airport name. Screen capture.ejstoltePhil_sande_mugKenneth_Alexander_BlatchfordDoes having house number 4 or 13 make you less likely to buy?http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2011/08/24/does-having-house-number-4-or-13-make-you-less-likely-to-buy/
http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2011/08/24/does-having-house-number-4-or-13-make-you-less-likely-to-buy/#commentsWed, 24 Aug 2011 17:46:04 +0000http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/?p=86647“Always love your dying wife” – that’s what the numbers meant to one recent Chinese immigrant who discovered his address with horror weeks before he was supposed to move into his new south end home.

The house number was 2047, …

]]>“Always love your dying wife” – that’s what the numbers meant to one recent Chinese immigrant who discovered his address with horror weeks before he was supposed to move into his new south end home.

When you buy an unfinished house in a new neighbourhood, the developer or builder often sells the land by lot number, rather than address. The formal addressing comes later, and that has been causing problems for the increasing number of Asian families moving here, says Sousa.

One of the first complaints he dealt with came from the man with house number 2047. He was almost in tears as he visited the addressing office three times begging them to change the numbers.

Finally, they found a solution. Since the man’s house was at the end of a row, they were able to change the address to 2049, which reads “always love your dying dog.”

That satisfied the new homeowner. His first dog had died long ago in China. His wife was alive and well.

But Sousa has a warning for anyone else who thinks they can get their address changed for a luckier number. This man was an exception. “We only do it if it makes sense from a logical or technical perspective.”

I find these types of stories fascinating. Names and numbers mean so much to people.

I sat in on Sousa’s naming committee last night as they debated new street names for Hawks Ridge (the developer’s proposals were “uninspiring”), and whether residents of the Blackmud Creek area north of the Anthony Henday should be able to keep calling their community that when the official Blackmud Creek area is south of the Henday (even though they call themselves Southbrook).

Look for that feature soon.

Interested in more names? Scott Lilwall wrote an interesting piece for The Charrette on bringing back Edmonton’s historical names.

If you are buying a new house and want to know your address ahead of time, check out these City of Edmonton maps. You have to download the program, but you can also use it to see your neighbour’s tax assessment.

]]>http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2011/08/24/does-having-house-number-4-or-13-make-you-less-likely-to-buy/feed/0Homes in the new community of Brintnell. Photo by Elise Stolte / Edmonton Journalejstolte